Marta Mierendorff papers
Scope and Content
Dates
- 1933 - 1985
Creator
- Mierendorff, Marta (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Biographical note
Marta Mierendorff was born in Charlottenburg (Berlin), Germany in 1911. She received her doctorate in 1949 from Humboldt University in Berlin. In the 1950s, she turned to study of the sociology of art and co-founded the Institut fuer Kunstsoziologie in Berlin with Heinrich Tost in 1954.
In the late 1950s, Marta Mierendorff developed an interest in the study of German-speaking exiles from the National Socialist regime. She traveled to Los Angeles in 1964 and there began working on the history of the Jewish Club of 1933, whose members were German Jewish exiles. Marta Mierendorff moved to Los Angeles in 1966. In 1971, she became a professor in the Department of German at the University of Southern California. Professor Mierendorff continued her research on German-speaking refugees, who were active in theater, film, cabaret, and other cultural endeavors, and who came to the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. She also collected materials on their life and work. Considered a pioneer in the study of exiles, Marta Mierendorff was made Emeritus Research Professor in 1984 at USC.
Extent
71.84 Linear Feet (73 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and ephemera regarding the lives and work of many German-speaking emigre artists in Southern California.
One focus of the collection are German Expressionist Theater director Leopold Jessner (1878-1945) and his brother-in-law, the actor and director Fritz Jessner (1889-1946), both of whom left Germany in the 1930s to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews. The collection also includes more extensive materials on Walter Wicclair, director William Dieterle, art-director Rudi Feld, Felix Jackson, the Mann family, Lion Feuchtwanger, and Elow as well as about the Jewish Club of 1933. Furthermore it contains transcripts of various conferences on exile studies, articles, presentations, interview transcripts, Wim Wenders screenplays, and data sheets Marta Mierendorff created about various exiled German-speaking artists.
The materials were collected by Marta Mierendorff (b. 1911), who was made Emeritus Research Professor in 1984 at USC.
- Actors -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- Actresses -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Artists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- Authors, German -- California, Southern -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Baum, Vicki -- Archives
- Berstl, Julius -- Archives
- Brecht Zentrum der DDR -- Archives
- Brecht, Bertolt -- Archives
- Bruno, Frank -- Archives
- California, Southern -- Emigration and immigration -- Archival resources
- Clippings
- Correspondence
- Dieterle, William -- Archives
- Doblin, Alfred -- Archives
- Eisler, Georg -- Archives
- Eisler, Hanns -- Archives
- Elow -- Archives
- European Film Fund -- Archives
- Exiles -- Austria -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Exiles -- Germany -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Exiles -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Exiles' writings, German -- California -- Archival resources
- Feuchtwanger, Lion -- Archives
- Frank, Liesl -- Archives
- Germany -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 1933-1945 -- Archival resources
- Graf, Oskar Maria -- Archives
- Granach, Alexander -- Archives
- Henreid, Paul -- Archives
- Jackson, Felix -- Archives
- Jessner, Fritz -- Archives
- Jessner, Leopold -- Archives
- Jewish Club of 1933 -- Archives
- Jewish refugees -- California, Southern -- Archival resources
- Jews -- California, Southern -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Jews, German -- California, Southern -- Archival resources
- Lang, Fritz -- Archives
- Mann, Heinrich -- Archives
- Mann, Thomas, 1875-1955 -- Archives
- Manuscripts
- Mierendorff, Marta -- Archives
- Müller, Heiner -- Archives
- Neumann, Alfred, 1895-1952 -- Archives
- Neumann, Robert -- Archives
- Newsletters
- Remarque, Erich Maria -- Archives
- Theater -- Austria -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Theater -- Germany -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Wenders, Wim -- Archives
- Wicclair, Walter -- Archives
- Wolf, Friedrich -- Archives
- Wolf, Markus -- Archives
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Archival resources
Creator
- Mierendorff, Marta (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid for Marta Mierendorff papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Michaela Ullmann, data transfer by Nicholas Muellerleile
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English, German
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu